Keen amateurs outdo the pros

‘WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND’
(George Lawton Hall)


I’ve seen this show a couple of times before; once the original touring production and more recently a Bill Kenwright-produced rerun.

The first I enjoyed, the second left me cold — which goes some way towards showing how important it is to take Andrew Lloyd Webber’s work at the right tone and with the right cast. Neither of those professional productions struck the same sort of chord as this one from Mossley AODS, and for a couple of reasons.

First, this performance by highly-competent amateurs takes away the slickness one expects of a professional show, and the robust, slightly hokey result paradoxically better reflects the down-home themes and people in the story.

And second, while it might not reach professional standards, the production remains a remarkably smooth and enjoyable experience in all departments; all driven at a fast pace by director Lee Brennan and MD Paul Firth.

The show famously takes Mary Hayley Bell’s story from darkest Yorkshire to the deepest Deep South of America, at a time of religious fervour and small-town bigotry. At that point it jumps back to the original tale: three children find an escaped prisoner in their barn and, looking for reasons for their mother’s death, believe he is Jesus. Soon all their friends believe it, too.

It’s a simple, naive story that gets very strong performances from the two leading players: Swallow, the eldest girl, is played and sung very sweetly by Katherine Farrow, while Gary Jones-McCaw offers probably his most mature and sensitive performance to date.

Similarly there are cute, realistic portrayals from Swallow’s siblings, played by Kira Richardson and Elena Burrows, and other notable performances — Sam Maurice as Swallow’s would-be boy friend Amos and real rock-chick singing from Mary Platts as his disenchanted girl friend being just two of them.

But you can’t really pick anyone out of the ensemble, especially of tightly-drilled youngsters who make up much of the cast.

Allied to a terrific fold-out set, smooth scene changes and strong lighting, I admit that while this has never been anywhere near a favourite musical of mine, here you can occasionally see why, for some people, it is.